Saturday 18th. February 2017
North 1 West
Rochdale 17 – 20 Wilmslow
Once again, Wolves coach Rick Jones and team manager Mike Blackett were forced to ring the changes for this visit to a rapidly improving Rochdale outfit. No less than ten regular choice players were missing for a catalogue of reasons, ranging from the wear and tear of a rugby season to job and study commitments.
As the dark foreboding clouds descended during the week, there turned out to be a silver lining in the unheralded arrival of two Irish students, seeking work experience, from Limerick, no less, the breathing heart and soul of Irish and Munster rugby. They both showed up well in training so coach Jones and his team just gulped and took a chance to catapult them straight into the team. The risk paid off. Ed Barry with previous experience at the Garryowen and Shannon clubs showed himself to be a robust, influential and competitive No. 9, whilst his pal Jack Hogan from a similar rugby background clearly knew what to do when he came on as a second half substitute on the right wing. Jones could also take pleasure in the performance of the two Loomans brothers from Hamilton, NZ, both of whom are nicely bedding into the Wolves setup.
Nevertheless, it was still very much a scratch Wolves side and arguably, despite the seven places separating the two teams in the league, the home side would have started favourites. After a miserable autumn, the Rochdale team had come together and produced three consecutive wins and four since the start of the year. It wasn't a case of expensive imports making the difference but of their own young players developing their own belief and growing in confidence.
They were soon off to a flyer when in the first five minutes, their centre Josh Schofield made a sizzling line break to set up his supporting left winger with an inside pass for an excellent score, converted by full back Oli Coldman.
The Wolves' response was to produce some of their best rugby of the afternoon.Bob MacCallum was short with a lengthy penalty attempt but from the drop out the Wolves came again. A poor pass to Caleb Loomans on the right wing prevented a run in for him but the best followed when Loomans, Hewitt, Barry and MacCallum all handled to send No. 8 Alex Taylor galloping in under the posts. The Wolves continued to dominate in scrum and lineout and only poor handling of the final pass prevented them from adding to their score more than once. A penalty from MacCallum was scant reward for twenty five minutes of play in the Rochdale half.
A pair of penalty awards, however, got Rochdale into the Wilmslow half and only mishandling prevented them from getting a second score.
The second half started with Rochdale failing to take MacCallum's kick and then fouling up their own lineout throw. From the ensuing scrum, MacCallum was the link for left winger Sam Cutts to cut inside and to break through a hesitant Rochdale defence.
At 7 – 17, one felt that the Wolves could carry on to close out the game but they suffered a big loss when tight head Robert Taylor had to leave the field with a shoulder injury. You mightn't always think of tight head as a key position but Rob Taylor has massive influence as the driving force in the tight, as a lifter in the lineout and around the field in open play. To just say he was missed would be an understatement. Without him, both the scrum and lineout struggled, usable possession dried up and apart from the occasional breakout, the Wolves were forced to defend for the best part of thirty minutes. The longer the game went on, the more likely it seemed that the home side would eventually earn the spoils of victory.
Midway through the half, a not particularly threatening cross kick by Rochdale No. 10 James Duffy caught the Wolves defence in a muddle and as the ball bounced around it was seized by winger West who ran in for his second try. A MacCallum penalty three minutes later restored a six point advantage for the Wolves but Coldman got one back with fifteen minutes still on the clock. The Wolves defence had to be resolute and disciplined to hang on to their slight advantage and against the run of play it did. There were anxious moments and a final last kick of the game gave last wek's Rochdale hero, Coldman, the chance to salvage a draw. It was from about forty metres slightly to the right of the uprights. It was by all accounts an easier kick than the one he had landed at Birkenhead Park to win the game the previous week but on this occasion it shaved the outside of the left hand upright. The ball went dead and that was that.
The Wolves to their credit had done enough to hang on at the end of a difficult week. There had been several stand out performances together with a gritty determination but the real heroes had been team manager Mike Blackett and coach Rick Jones, who against the odds had together fashioned and marshalled a winning team from their much reduced resources. The treatment benches in the club's physio centre will be busy in the next fortnight, working to reduce the back log of injured players, as the Wolves prepare to play Warrington at home on 4th. March.
Photo: Jack Hogan, left, and Ed Barry after their Wolves debut at Rochdale.
Match report by David Pike.
